Hausa

The Hausa kingdoms were city-states between the Niger River and Lake Chad, including Kano, Katsina, Daura and Gobir. Hausa tradition traced seven of the states to descendants of Bayajidda, while their fortified cities became centres of trade and rule.

Kano's ruler Yaji I, who reigned from 1349 to 1385, accepted Islam and conquered Rano. In the early nineteenth century Usman dan Fodio's jihad overthrew Hausa rulers and brought much of Hausaland into the Sokoto Caliphate.